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COOKING PROTOCOL 🤝

Stop waiting for pasta water to boil

Save time in the kitchen by changing the way you cook pasta: stop waiting for the pot to come to a boil. 

You can go about this in two ways —

Check as you go method:

1. Barely submerge pasta in water; add a conservative amount of salt.

2. Set on high heat, stir occasionally to prevent sticking.

3. Check pasta doneness occasionally, drain when cooked through.

Timer method:

1. Barely submerge pasta in water; add a conservative amount of salt.

2. Set on high heat, stir occasionally to prevent sticking.

3. Use a thermometer to check the pasta water temp. When it reads 180°F/82°C, start a timer for your desired doneness.

4. Double-check pasta at the recommended time before draining.

Why does this work?

Pasta starch molecules swell, then protein denaturation begins at 180°F/82°C, not 212°F/100°C (boiling temp). This means your pasta begins cooking through long before the water comes to a full rolling boil.

• The caveat is that you’ll have to stir the pasta a few times to prevent sticking since there won’t be rolling bubbles agitating the pasta for the majority of the cooking time.

Pasta absorbs about 1-2 times its weight in water. No need to measure though — submerging the pasta will get you there.

• Note: don’t use this method for fresh pasta — you’ll want plenty of boiling water to quickly gelatinize the fresh dough.

Why bother?

Using just enough water heats up much quicker than a massive pot of water. Another bonus is that the resulting pasta water is way starchier, perfect for incorporating into pasta sauce applications.

In testing, Ethan found that cooking 1/2 lb (225 g — usually half a package) of dried pasta took an average of ~6:30 minutes to cook through using this method.

RECIPE RECOMMENDATIONS ✅

Our best pasta recipes

Try out the faster pasta cooking method with our favorite pasta recipes here:

FOOD TRENDS 🚀

Spam musubi

Spam musubi is a popular hand-held snack made with sushi rice, nori, and yes…grilled or seared spam. It resembles and gets its name from the Japanese omusubi, where a rice ball is wrapped in a sheet of nori.

• Spam musubi has its origins in Hawaii, during World War II, where an important ration ingredient to U.S. soldiers was spam. After the war, leftover spam cans (and lots of them) were made available to civilians.

The large Japanese population in Hawaii inserted spam into onigiri-style snacks. It then grew in popularity and has become a staple in Hawaiian convenience stores ever since. More recently, spam musubi’s popularity has soared on social media platforms like TikTok, and on menus across the U.S.

Why?

1. Spam is a cheap alternative to making sushi-style snacks that usually require expensive, hard-to-source, raw fish (especially for home cooking).

2. It’s incredibly savory because the spam slices are seared, meaning you get a ton of umami and flavor development from the browning (maillard reaction) that occurs all over the meat.

So is SPAM cool again? Let us know your opinion, or if you want to read more: here’s an Eater article that dives into SPAM's history and cultural resurgence.

READER Q&A 🧠

Is dry aged meat worth it?

Dry aging is the process of meat being stored in a cool and controlled environment for several weeks to months to improve the tenderness and taste.

Aging tenderizes meat in an interesting way - once an animal is slaughtered, its cell control systems stop functioning, so enzymes present in the meat begin attacking cells at their own will.

• These enzymes break down proteins in meat, weakening muscle fibers and collagen. This results in two benefits during cooking: more collagen converts to gelatin for tenderness, and the meat retains more moisture due to reduced pressure from connective tissue.

As for flavor development, other enzymes also happen to break down amino acids into more savory molecules, resulting in more complex, nutty, aged flavors, which is why dry aging has become so popular (basically the standard at high-end steakhouses).

There are downsides: dry aging results in a tough crust (known as a pellicle), which must be shaved off. Because the meat also loses water weight via evaporation, the end product is much smaller (and more expensive).

• Additionally, not everyone is a fan of the funky, aged flavor (if you’re not into stinky cheeses, odds are you might be turned off by dry-aged meat).

We think it’s a novel treat — and worth trying at least once — but dry aging itself isn’t a technique for the average home cook. If you love the flavor, a good butcher can hook you up so you don’t have to pay steakhouse prices every time.

WINNING READER SUBMISSION 🏆

Steak au poivre

This week’s dinner winner is Zachary J, who prepared steak au poivre with a shallot peppercorn sauce. Watch our Steak Masterclass here.

Reply with your best home-cooked food photos for a chance to win & be featured!

EXTRA HELPINGS 🍽️

A read: How the White House Exec Chef Gets Picked

In a minute or less: How to Make a Parmesan Crisp

What we’re watching: Supreme Garlic Bread

Food science: Fundamentals of Braising

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